---

The Chisago Lakes swimming and diving team made Columbia Heights its latest victim Thursday, February 9 at the CL pool. The final score was 96-71, but it could have been a much greater margin. The Wildcats swam the final three events as exhibitions, so Heights got all the points in those events.

“We got off to a great start,” said Wildcats head coach Jim Sauerbry. “We had our fastest time of the year in the medley relay. We missed our team record by .14.”

John Donahue, Tom McGurk, Luke Spehar and Hunter Heggerston swam the event in 1:49.43 for the win. Dave Willhite, Steve Boo, Spehar and Heggerston combined for a first in the 200 relay (1:39.25). Willhite, Andy Willhite, Spehar and Boo completed the relay sweep by completing the race in 3:47.21.

Heggerston added two individual wins as he won the 50 freestyle (24.18) and the 100 freestyle (53.82). Boo added a first in the 500 freestyle and Andy Willhite added a first in diving (228.15) to their wins in the relays. Other firsts went to Donahue in the 100 backstroke (1:04.08) and McGurk in the IM (2:20.97).

Boo (200 freestyle), Mark Eagan (IM), McGurk (100 breast stroke), Tom McCulloch (diving) and the 400 relay team (Donahue, Nate Anderson, Dave Donahue and Andrew Turner) had seconds for the Wildcats.

The 200 medley relay team (Eagan, Charlie Kopp, Kevin Roggeman, Ethan Karwand) and the 200 freestyle relay team (Roggeman, McCulloch, Jake Kuehl, Karwand) earned points at third place.

Other thirds went to Turner, D. Willhite, Cody Gralish, Roggeman, Andrew Jokinen, A. Willhite and Eagan.

Overall, the ‘Cats won 10 of 12 events and swept the first three places in diving and the 500 freestyle.

Other highlights included the team’s fastest 200 freestyle relay time of the year and four individual firsts by Heggerston and Spehar.

The win guarantees a conference championship. Congratulations to coaches Sauerbry, Willhite and the entire team.

Chisago Invitational

Saturday, February 11

The Wildcat swimmers and divers continued their winning ways by coming in first in their own invitational. The local boys scored either the most or second most points in all 12 events.

Team Results

Chisago Lakes 605

Cambridge-Isanti 513

South St. Paul 380

Princeton 348

Tartan 310

The ‘Cats got off to a fast start by winning the first event, the 200 medley relay. John Donahue, Tom McGurk, Luke Spehar and Hunter Heggerston took the event in 1:49.94 to take the early lead. The other Chisago team, Andy Willhite, Mark Eagan, Kevin Roggeman and Ethan Karwand finished sixth to aid the cause.

Willhite finished first in diving with an impressive 380.20 points. Cody Gralish was second with 295.15 and teammate Charlie Kopp took sixth place.

The 200 freestyle relay teams got the maximum points possible. Dave Willhite, Steve Boo, Luke Spehar and Heggerston won it in 1:37.85. The second Wildcat team, Brody Heggerston, Roggeman, Gralish and Karwand finished sixth to get points for the team.

Tom McGurk picked up 20 points for his team by winning the 100 breast stroke in 1:09.31.

Boo came in second in the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle. Donahue was second in the 100 backstroke and the 400 freestyle relay team (A. Willhite, D. Willhite, Spehar and Boo) earned the other second for the Wildcats.

McGurk had a third in the 200 IM, Spehar took third in the 100 butterfly and H. Heggerston was third in the 100 freestyle.

Mark Eagan finished fourth in the 200 IM and the 100 breast stroke. Other fourths went to H. Heggerston (50 freestyle) and A. Willhite (100 backstroke).

“After diving (event five) we were only up by 16 points (237 to 221).....Our seniors gathered the team and got them pumped up,” said head coach Jim Sauerbry.

“David Donahue and Cody Gralish each made huge moves in the ‘fly and 100 free. Our 200 free relay was seeded third, but dropped over two seconds to win the event. Then, our breast strokers came up big, going 1-4-7-10,” the coach continued.

---